To save the world from destruction, Ash and Fernandez worked together tirelessly.
From the beginning of the new cycle to the efficient optimization of the monster frontline strategy, they gathered excellent talents.
They amassed as much funding as possible for supplies.
Ash fought directly on the monster frontline in the southern part, while Fernandez poured material and personnel support from the Imperial Capital for Ash.
With each cycle, the situation improved. With every new cycle, the monster frontline became stronger, and the empire's army efficiently eliminated the monsters.
Nevertheless,
A fundamental solution was not found.
No matter how much they optimized, they could never completely block the monsters' final massive offensive.
No matter how they struggled, in the end, the world was destroyed. Over and over again.
Gradually, the cooperation between the two of them reached a stalemate.
...Even hope gets worn out.
Both Ash and Fernandez gradually grew tired.
Ash, who directly regressed, wore out much faster than Fernandez, who just inherited the records of each cycle.
At some point, they parted ways. More precisely, Ash turned away.
Their cooperation ceased, and they began to move separately.
Sometimes they conflicted. At its worst, there were cycles where they fought as if to kill each other, rather than joining forces.
They stole each other's subordinates and seized each other's power, sometimes even swapping positions.
There was a time when Reyna was Ash's closest aide, and Lucas was Fernandez's.
There was a time when Ash became the leader of the dark forces in the center, and Fernandez became the commander of the monster frontline.
And after many cycles of such conflicts, which they could even laugh about...
Eventually, realizing that the only beings who could help each other were each other, they began to cooperate again.
In a distant cycle, worn out by their mutual animosity and numb to both friendship and hatred,
"Hello, brother."
At Dustia's funeral, Ash, who had just finished regressing, smiled at Fernandez with a haggard face.
"I'm tired of even greeting now."
"Ash..."
"Do you have a cigarette?"
At Ash's request, Fernandez let out a dry laugh, incredulous. Ash was only fifteen years old physically.
"Too young to start already."
"My mental age is dozens, hundreds of times that of yours."
"Starting to smoke so young will ruin your health."
"What does it matter if I die young anyway..."
Fernandez had cigarettes on him.
As if he knew Ash would ask for them, he had brought them.
"Here."
"Thanks."
Ash put the cigarette in his mouth, and Fernandez used magic to light it for him.
"Huu..."
Ash exhaled a long breath of smoke and murmured.
"Is there an end to this fight?"
"..."
"If we keep repeating infinitely, maybe one day we'll win. But... I don't think I'll make it that far."
Ash's soul had long exceeded its allowed limits.
After too many regressions, the durability of his soul had bottomed out, and symptoms of what is called regression dementia had begun.
Right after regressing, he could keep his sanity, but as time passed, the cracks in his soul widened... He was no longer able to live properly, not just as a player, but even as a human being.
"...I came up with a plan with Aider."
Ash, having burnt his cigarette down to the butt, spat it out and spoke.
"If I can no longer function as a player, I will borrow useful memories from another world... and overlay them on myself."
"What?"
"I may no longer be myself, but I'll still be useful as a player."
"Such a nonsensical thing...!"
"Whatever I did, I couldn't save the world anyway. Might as well try to introduce some variable with the memories of another player."
Fernandez, who had lost his words, stuttered as he asked.
"Are you really okay with this?"
"..."
"Why go to such lengths... to fight?"
"I don't know."
Ash chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
"I can't even remember the reason anymore."
"Ash..."
"I won't be your brother anymore. So, our cooperation ends here."
With Ash losing his memories, a close cooperation like before was no longer possible.
Like before... it was impossible to proceed with the strategy, optimizing it together without a word of conversation.
"Thanks for everything, brother. Now you should find your own new possibilities."
"..."
"And sometimes help the other me."
With those words and a fragile smile, Ash patted Fernandez on the back and left the graveyard, tightening his coat.
"See you again."
Fernandez quietly watched his brother's thin retreating figure.
'...Even if we win this way.'
Fernandez clenched his fist.
'You're just losing everything.'
Staking everything he had and even abandoning himself in the fight.
Such a brutal battle across eons must not be without salvation. It would be too cruel.
Fernandez wanted to save his brother by any means.
'Anyway, there's no chance of winning.'
Fernandez had already reached a conclusion.
No matter what they did, they couldn't defeat the monsters. As cycles passed, as hope wore thin, that conclusion solidified.
If the world's destruction by the monsters was inevitable,
'Then perhaps...'
Lowering his gaze from the now invisible figure of his brother, Fernandez thought.
'Perhaps...'
***
Present time.
Imperial Capital New Terra. Imperial Palace. Audience Chamber.
"..."
"..."
Fernandez, seated on a throne entwined with thorny vines, and Ash, who had just entered and stood below the dais, looked at each other.
The brothers stared at each other silently for a long time. Ash was the one who broke the silence.
"What's with you, why that look?"
"Huh?"
"Why are you looking at me with such a melodramatic gaze, acting all crazy?"
"..."
Ash was the first to sharply pick a fight.
Fernandez, gazing blankly at his brother, eventually chuckled.
"...There's a limit to self-deception. Why would I look at you with such affection?"
This brother in front of him doesn't remember.
The long cooperation of bygone eras.
Fighting together, conflicting, parting ways, and then joining forces again... the tiresome days of a joint front.
And he himself also... does not remember.
Only fragments of records from those countless times are engraved in his body. He cannot recall those memories.
Like reading someone else's memories, he could only guess the days with his brother from the records.
'We both have a friendship that we do not remember.'
Having fought together for so long, sometimes parting ways, then silently joining forces again.
And now, a relationship that nobody remembers.
...What use are such memories?
Their paths have already diverged.
"Ash."
Fernandez blurted out.
"I never told you, but... I always wanted to reach your loneliness."
"...?"
Ash frowned as if to say, 'What nonsense are you talking about?' Fernandez laughed lightly.
"Brotherhood is a truly fascinating relationship."
Loving, hating, fighting, cooperating – the frame of brotherhood can embrace any form.
"Yes, so... even our current fight is still within the frame of brotherhood."
"What have you been rambling about all this time-"
"Come on, Ash."
Fernandez raised his head to stare directly at Ash.
"In this final cycle. My records too. Your ordeal..."
The giant thorny tree inside the audience chamber – the body of Everblack – began to vibrate.
"Let's end this."
As Fernandez reached out his hand, the giant thorny vines twisted and soared upward, following his will.
Kwagwagwang!
Dozens, hundreds of thorny vines stretched out like whips, surging towards Ash.
And then,
Flap-!
In response, Ash unfurled his own flag - [The Great Commander's Flag].
The flag, plain without any emblem, old and blackened as if weathered.
And he shouted.
"This is..."
While planting the flagpole on the ground, with all his might.
"The frontline of the world-!"
Flash-!
From the spot where the flagpole was planted, a circular wind spread out, and gray magical power poured out in all directions.
The brothers, who once fought together to save the world, now, no longer remembering that fact,
Began to engage in a fierce battle, giving their all against each other.
***
The same time.
Underground of the Imperial Capital.
"...So this is the shutdown protocol."
The Emperor, having used the Imperial Family's secret passage to descend underground, sighed.
"You have installed it so extensively without my knowledge."
The gigantic magic circle installed beneath the entire Imperial Capital was staggeringly large. What could be seen in the underground of the Imperial Palace was just a part of it.
"Should we destroy this?"
"Let me check."
Junior, bowing her head, touched the magic circle. Then, immediately,
Fzzzt!
"Ugh?!"
As soon as Junior touched the circle, electricity sparked from it, and a strong repulsion force pushed her backward.
"...The magic has already entered its activation sequence."
Junior, clutching her tingling fingertips with her other hand, gritted her teeth.
"Even if we destroy part of it, we can't stop it from operating...!"
"What should we do then?"
"We need to inflict significant damage to the entire circle! But the size of the circle is too large..."
Another voice took over Junior's words.
"Yes. Realistically, it's impossible to destroy the magic circle."
"...?!"
"Since the activation sequence has already started, soon... it will envelop and activate across the entire Imperial Capital."
Everyone looked in that direction.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of a staff tapping on the floor echoed in the underground, as a middle-aged female magician appeared.
Recognizing her face, Junior uttered a dismayed groan.
"...Captain Reyna."
Reyna, without even glancing at Junior, saluted the Emperor.
"It's been a long time, Your Majesty."
"Indeed. Reyna. It has been a long time."
The Emperor gestured towards the magic circle.
"If I order you to stop this magic, would you obey?"
"No."
"Why is that?"
"Because my master is not the former Emperor, Your Majesty."
"The former Emperor... I have never abdicated the throne."
"I serve only Emperor Fernandez, the sole emperor of the current empire. Thus, regrettably, I cannot heed the former Emperor's words."
The Emperor sighed.
"So, you no longer treat me as the Emperor, nor obey my commands? And yet you call yourself an imperial soldier?"
"I am a hound, Your Majesty."
Reyna replied bluntly.
"A hound is loyal to the one who feeds it. Not the one who abandons it."
15 years ago. During the Camilla Kingdom occupation operation.
At that time, Jupiter, the captain of the 2nd Division of the magical troops, disobeyed orders and rebelled against the massacre of civilians to save Junior.
This became the only stain on the operation directed by the Emperor himself.
As a result of the aftermath of this series of events... the magical troops were expelled from the 1st Army of the Imperial Army and were abandoned.
Reyna, then the captain of the 1st Division of the magical troops, was responsible for the entire division.
Reyna did everything she could to find a way out for her subordinates.
It was Fernandez who took in the abandoned magical troops.
The owner of the magical troops changed from the Emperor to Fernandez at that time.
"...How ironic."
The Emperor chuckled bitterly.
"That day, in the Camilla Kingdom... how many fates were forever changed."
Jupiter was dishonorably discharged,
Reyna became Fernandez's hound,
And Junior, burdened with a lifelong disability, became a magician of the new era.
The Emperor, reflecting on the diverged paths of the three magicians, muttered bitterly.
"All are the consequences of my own lack of virtue."